CCD Images of Planetary Nebulae

Planetary Nebulae represent the late stages of stellar evolution in which the outer layers of the star have
been shed and are now being ionized
by the core of the star which is destined to be come a white dwarf

For a schematic figure of the structure of a star that
leads to the formation of a Planetary Nebula Click Here . For a schematic representation of how a
planetary nebula is ionized Click Here

Following are images of some famous and not-so-famous Planetary Nebulae.
The images are designed to show various ionization structures and
filaments:

Abell 2 Narrowband Image Note
that the outer structure is more well-defined here in the light of
[O III] which is at a wavelength of 5007 Angstroms. This wavelength
is also in the center of the Visual (V) band, and so V-band images
of Planetary Nebulae are dominated by this emission line rather than
continuum emission.

Abell 3 Narrowband Image This
particular planetary nebulae does not have very sharp ionization features
but instead is rather diffuse.

NGC 650 Narrowband Image In
constrast to Abell 3, this shows rather spectacular structure. In this
deep image one sees that the nebulae has many filaments and is clearly
non-spherical. At other contrast settings, one can see the sharp
ionization structures near the ionizing star as well as an overall
appearance that would make Batman happy.
Click here to see this image.